Can anyone recommend a supplier to quote for Photovoltaic system for running salt water pool?

Hi all,

We bought our house in the Charente about 6 months ago for our use as a holiday home. The first thing we have done is get a pool installed, which is nearly there except for one problem.

Our electrician has told us that we need to have our ERDF power supply boosted as it is only a 30 amp supply which is insufficient for the filter and heater, without constantly tripping the whole system.
On top of the ERDF costs we also have to have a trench dug because of the siting of the new input on which ERDF insist, which is pushing the costs above 3000 euros, so would rather consider a solar system. Would a solar system be sufficient for the pump and heater? Has anyone gone down this route and can they recommend a company who will quote for this work which we need doing urgently as the water's going in the pool at the beginning of May 2016?

We've got a great south facing pitched garage roof which would be ideal for some nice PV panels, but not looking to feed back into the grid.

Hope someone out there can help us.


Hi David and Trish,

I think we'll need a bit more information on what you currently have (pun intended) Your supply is just short of 7KW max? What do you currently have connected to that. What is the heater you have for the pool? what is the pool pump? size of the pool? photos can be sent to john@le-pre.co.uk

Without going into calculations I would bet that it will cost more than €3000 to set up a PV system with enough capacity to run a heater as the large charge controller and deeep cylcle batteries and inverters are all very costly at that level.

I have setup a solar powered pool pump for a customer as the only way they could get power was to dig under a road to lay a cable which was hugely expensive. Our solution is a very low energy setup for the pool. I design and install the lowest energy pool setups in the world so you have found a great place to post.

John I am interested in your low energy solar powered pool pump . Can you send me more information please . Thank you

Hi Anthony, I sent you a PM.

mr Eric Noble.he s got qualification like Qualisol or something like that. Fully insured and registered. This solar system with radiators panels and boiler was not installed but he could do the job...

i had a solar system to install and he provided me with a reasonable quote. Tg

simonnoble@orange.fr

we have pv boiler and all the accessories to sell for a small price. Never installed as we had to indemnify owner who went back to UK. He wants 1500 euros for it. Ibterested?

the thing is in the barn at present and Eric Noble saw it.

Mail me at baud24@hotmaul.com.

we are near Confolens

His quote

i hope i cam include it so you see the details. If not mail me to

baud24@hotmail.com

does accept pdf docs sorry

Thank you all for your comments. We're bogged down in the daily grind of work at the moment, but are going to look at the options next week when we're in France

I wonder what the result of this was? Are David and Trish still around?

Hi, It seems that enthusiasm for PV Solar energy in France is somewhat behind that in England. However, we have managed to find a local supplier in the Charente and are having a solar powered ventilation system installed into our house soon, to protect the house from damp problems when we are in England (as this is a holiday home and not our main residence). If this goes well we will probably get the same supplier to install their PV system for our pool as well. If anyone is interested I will keep you posted.

Always interested in alternative energy so apprecieate you keeping us posted (if I can find this thread again).

It maybe more prudent to review your current pool setup, yes you could add a load of panels to power the power hungry pool pump bearing in mind the start up current required for motors and the large charge regulator and larger inverter and possibly battery back up.
Alternative go for an energy efficient setup and you’ll probably run off just the one panel and all the other equipment can be smaller. Getting this right can also improve the pool water quality and reduce the chemical demand and maintenance time. Everything working in harmony.

Just thinking back to my original post, maybe I should have been clearer that I was seeking PV panels to power the pompe a chaleur, and not the filtration and electrolyzer system. The filtration/electrolyzer system is incredibly cheap to run (about 1 euro a day, including taxes), doesn’t require any chemicals, and can be left to over winter without any attention for 4 or 5 months. Using the pompe a chaleur increased our electricity bill by 800 euros in the first summer!!
So, if anyone out there knows anyone who can quote for installing PV on our garage/pool room to power the heater, I would still love to explore this possibility, and then we could extend our pool usage by at least 2 months each year.

Hi David &Trish, I doubt it will be economic to power your heat pump via PV, at the very best on a 3kw system the battery pack my just cope with the motor start up load but performance would drop drastically with a less than bright day. Cost for materials around £7,500 . to be more sure of running properly with some clouds you would be better going to a 6Kw system at £10,800 . this is just the materials not the fixing. If the same area was available for solar water heating you could heat the pool, the hot water and possibly a radiator or two for arounId. £3-4,000